Rock climbing first emerged as a sport in the mid-1800s. Early records describe climbers engaging in what is now referred to as bouldering, not as a separate discipline, but as a form of training for larger ascents. In the early 20th century, the Fontainebleau area of France established itself as a prominent climbing area, where some of the first dedicated bleausards (or “boulderers”) emerged. The specialized rock climbing shoe was invented by one such athlete, Pierre Allain.
In the 1960s, the sport was pushed forward by American mathematician John Gill, who contributed several important innovations. Gill's previous athletic pursuit was gymnastics, a sport which had an established scale of difficulty for particular movements and body positions. He applied this idea to bouldering, which shifted the focus from reaching a summit to navigating a specific sequence of holds. Gill developed a closed-ended rating system: B1 problems were as difficult as the most challenging roped routes of the time, B2 problems were more difficult, and B3 problems were those that had only been completed once.
Two important training tools emerged in the 1980s: Bouldering mats and artificial climbing walls. The former, also referred to as “crash pads,” prevented injuries from falling, and enabled boulderers to climb in areas that would have been too dangerous to attempt otherwise. Indoor climbing walls helped spread the sport to areas without outdoor climbing, and allowed serious climbers to train year-round regardless of weather conditions.
As the sport grew in popularity, new bouldering areas were developed throughout Europe and the United States, and more athletes began participating in bouldering competitions. The visibility of the sport greatly increased in the early 2000s, as YouTube videos and climbing blogs helped boulderers around the world to quickly learn techniques, find hard problems, and announce newly completed projects.
In early 2010, two American climbers claimed first ascents on boulder problems that have come to be regarded as the most difficult in the world: The Game near Boulder, Colo., established by Daniel Woods; and Lucid Dreaming near Bishop, Calif., established by Paul Robinson. The following year, fellow American Carlo Traversi claimed the second ascent of The Game and in January 2014, American Daniel Woods completed the second ascent of “Lucid Dreaming.” In 2011, Czech climber Adam Ondra claimed the second ascent of Gioia, originally established three years earlier by Italian boulderer Christian Core, and suggested that it was among the world's most challenging boulder problems.
Unlike other climbing sports, bouldering can be performed safely and effectively with very little equipment, an aspect which makes the discipline highly appealing to many climbers.
Bouldering is a form of rock climbing which takes place on boulders and other small rock formations, usually measuring less than 20 feet (6.1 m) from ground to top, but in some cases can measure up to 30+ ft. Unlike top rope climbing and lead climbing, no ropes are used to protect or aid the climber. Bouldering routes or “problems” require the climber to reach the top of a boulder, usually from a specified start position. Some boulder problems, known as “traverses,” require the climber to climb horizontally from one position to another.
Bouldering movements are described as either “static” or “dynamic” which can add to the level of skill required, and/or likelihood of falling, using such bouldering movements. Static movements are those that are performed slowly, with the climber's position controlled by maintaining contact on the boulder with the other three limbs. Dynamic movements use the climber's momentum to reach holds that would be difficult or impossible to secure statically, with an increased risk of falling if the movement is not performed accurately. And, in the case of a bouldering race, dynamic movements may be accentuated over static movements with a corresponding increase of required skill and/or likelihood/frequency of falling as speed, dynamic movement, and/or difficulty of climbing route and holds are increased.
Again, boulder problems are generally (but not always) shorter than 20 feet (6.1 m) from ground to top. And, in a commercial indoor rock climbing wall environment, may be less. This may be so, in particular, with lower-skill, introductory, or younger climbers. The vertically shorter climbing wall (and fall therefrom) makes the sport significantly safer than free solo climbing, which is also performed without ropes, but with no upper limit on the height of the climb. However, minor injuries are common in bouldering, particularly sprained ankles and wrists. Two factors contribute to the frequency of injuries in bouldering: first, boulder problems typically feature more difficult moves than other climbing disciplines, making falls more common. Second, without ropes to arrest the climber's descent, every fall will cause the climber to hit the ground. And, considering a possible miss-hap with traditional top-roped indoor climbing, free solo climbing, and even bouldering—fall impact can vary greatly due to the height at which the un-obstructed fall began.
To prevent injuries, boulderers position crash pads near the base of the boulder to provide a softer landing, as well as one or more spotters to help redirect the climber towards the pads. Upon landing, boulderers employ falling techniques similar to those used in gymnastics: spreading the impact across the entire body to avoid bone fractures, and positioning limbs to allow joints to move freely throughout the impact.
Artificial (i.e. human made, designed, or manufactured) climbing walls are often used to simulate boulder problems in an indoor environment, usually at climbing gyms. These walls are generally constructed with wooden panels, polymer cement panels, concrete shells, or precast molds of actual rock walls. Holds, usually made of plastic, are then bolted onto the wall to create problems. The walls often feature steep overhanging surfaces, forcing the climber to employ highly technical movements while supporting much of their weight with their upper body strength. And, the wall surface can be further complicated by attaching various “volumes” to the wall to which holds are then subsequently attached.
Climbing gyms often feature multiple problems within the same section (or route) of wall. In the US the most common method Routesetters use to designate the intended route for a particular problem is by placing colored tape next to each hold—for example, holds with red tape would indicate one bouldering problem, while green tape would be used to set off a different problem in the same area.
Across much of the rest of the world problems and grades are usually designated by using a set color of plastic hold to indicate a particular problem. For example, green may be v0-v1, blue may be v2-v3 and so on. Setting via color has certain advantages, the most notable of which are that it makes it more obvious where the holds for a problem are, and that there is no chance of tape being accidentally kicked off of footholds. Smaller, resource-poor climbing gyms may prefer taped problems because large, expensive holds can be used in multiple routes simply by marking them with more than one color of tape.
Bouldering competitions occur in both indoor and outdoor settings. There are several other formats used for bouldering competitions. Some competitions give climbers a fixed number of attempts at each problem with a timed rest period in between each attempt, unlike the International Federation of Sport Climbing (IFSC) format, in which competitors can use their allotted time however they choose. In an open-format competition, all climbers compete simultaneously, and are given a fixed amount of time to complete as many problems as possible. More points are awarded for more difficult problems, while points are deducted for multiple attempts on the same problem.
In 2012, the IFSC submitted a proposal to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to include lead climbing in the 2020 Summer Olympics. The proposal was later revised to an “overall” competition, which would feature bouldering, lead climbing, and speed climbing. In May 2013, the IOC announced that climbing would not be added to the 2020 Olympic program.
Thus, to-date, a rock climbing, or bouldering, pad has had a simple consistent design with common properties across a length and width. Further, climbing walls did not anticipate a varied, and updatable, design of a safety pad. And, variously other desired, but unrecognized problems and advantages addressed by the inventive embodiments and teachings discussed below were not previously addressed or considered.